Undergarment



Jan. 26, 1943. A. R. yKNE'HBLER f UNDERGARMENT Filed April 27,' 1959 Patented Jan. 26, 1943 UNDERGARMENT Arthur l. Kneibler, Kenosha, Wis., assigner to Coopers, Incorporated, Kenosha., Wis., a corporation of Wisconsin Application April 27, 1939, Serial No. 270,366-

Claims.

This invention relates to improvements in undergarments and more particularly to improvements in undergarments such as undershirts or like shirts, such as are sometimes used for athletic wear by men.

The main objects of the invention are to provide in a shirt having sleeves, an arrangement for improving the comfort characteristics of garments of the type indicated, especially in respect of the sleeves and their normal tendency to produce excess warmth and to retain perspiration with consequent discomforting effect; to provide an arrangement for adequately Ventilating the shirt adjacent the function of the sleeves thereof to the body of the shirt; to provide a construction which will lit smoothly and without binding eiect on the upper portions of the arms of the wearer; to provide a sleeve construction which will absorb perspiration and help to prevent the saine from reaching the wearers outer clothing; and in general it is the object of the invention to provide a shirt or garment of the character indin cated having an improved comfort characteristic in respect of its sleeve construction.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will be understood by reference to the following specification and accompanying drawing, wherein there are illustrated two embodiments of the invention.

In the drawing:

Figures l and 2 are perspectives showing the front and back, respectively, of a mans undershirt, the same being distended to approximately the condition in which it is worn;

Figure 3 is a section on line 25e-3 of Figure 2;

Figure 4 is a perspective showing the back of a garment embodying a modified construction; and

Figure 5 is a section on line 5-5 of Figure 4.

Referring now to the drawing. the shirt con struction disclosed in Figures i to 3. inclusive, comprises a main body section 6 having a neck opening 'l and any suitable bottom edge formation as indicated. In the illustrated shirt, the bottom of the garment is out away at its sides so as to, in effect, provide the front and back portions of the garment with tails, the back tail being preferably somewhat longer than the front tail. The neck opening 'l is finished in any suitable manner, for example, by means of binding tape as is well known in the art.

The body is also provided with arm openings and sleeves 8 8 are secured to the body at such arrn openings.

The sleeves 3 8, in the construction shown in Figures 1 to 8, inclusive, comprise a top portion 9, a bottom portion Iii and a cufflike end element il. The cuff element II may be of any conventional knitted or other construction, the saine being suitably secured to the adjacent ends of the sleeve portions 9 and IEI.

The top portion S of the sleeve, which has its upper edge attached to the shoulder portion I2 of the garment body, is formed of an open mesh knitted fabric element. This is such that the sleeve is freely ventilated through said portion.

The under arm or lower portion EQ of the sleeve is also preferably formed of knitted material but, as indicated in Figure 3, it is formed of closer texture so that its capacity for absorption is much greater than that of the over arm portion 9j Also the under arm portion Il) comprises 2 plies I3 and I4 of said knitted material. In forming the sleeve 8, a sleeve piece is preliminarily formed to include the inner under arm portion. i3, the over arm portion 9- and the outer under arm portion I4, such elements being cut to suitable shape and stitched together by suitable stitching. as indicated at I5-I5- The composite fabric thus formed is folded upon itself so that when distended, as indicated in Figure 3, the strip de scribes a spiral comprising one and one-half turns of fabric. The arrangement is such that the two sections I3 and lf3 of knitted material overlap each other to constitute the under arm portion of the garment. The arrangement further such that one end of the composite strip is disposed on the outside of the sleeve at the back thereof, as indicated at I6, and so that the other end is disposed on the inside of the front portion of the sleeve, as shown at il'. The ends I5 and il are not attached to the respectively adjacent portions of the sleeve but are left free and they are preferably finished by having secured thereto a strip of elastic tape, i8,

As indicated in Figure 2, the edge l5 of the outer ply I4 is preferably arranged so that it exH tends lengthwise of the sleeve approximately parallel with the axis or normal length thereof. The inner edge Il is also preferably similarly arranged.

The spirally formed sleeve is secured at its edges to the armholes of the garment body and to the adjacent end of the cuits EI, the stitching employed for this purpose serving to secure the two plies of the under arm portion together in fixed relation, but'only at the ends of the sleeve.

The plies I3 and I4 are preferably of slightly different widths so that when their side edges forming the end of the sleeve are made to register with each other and are stitched to the garment body, the said two plies are left free of attachsame being construed as broadly as possible, consistent with the state of the art.

ment to each other intermediate the ends of the sleeve, and the arrangement is preferably such that the said two plies `are not tightly fitted against each other, but instead are relatively loose so as to avoid any hardness due to the double thickness `or harshness on the wearer.

Tests of shirts embodying the above described sleeve construction show that any arm movement, and hence any movement of the sleeves, induces air circulation through said pocket-like under arm sleeve construction with resultant acceleration of moisture evaporation with its attendant benefits.

In the event that the garment is worn by a person who is troubled with abnormally free under arm perspiration, a suitable soft absorbent padding may be inserted between the under arm plies I3 and I4 of the sleeve to further safeguard against the transmission of moisture to the wearers outer clothing. Such an absorbent element may be of textile material or it may be of paper wadding such as crepe tissue paper, or of any other suitable kind.

The elastic tape element I8 with which the free edges I6 and I'I are bound is normally free of tension and is made of such length that when the shirt is worn the normal distention of the sleeve and the normal tendency to stretch lengthwise on the wearers arm will cause the same elastic element to be slightly tensioned, thereby eliminating any tendency for the access opening of the space between the plies I3 and I4 to gap.

In the modified construction shown in Figures 4 and 5 the sleeve construction is in general the same as that shown in Figure 3, but instead of embodying an over arm insert of open mesh material of greater porosity, the over arm portion Sa is made of the same fabric as the under arm portions I 3 and I4. In other words, the sleeve is formed of a single continuously knitted fabric folded to provide the spiral construction shown. Also, instead of employing elastic tape elements for binding the free edges of the inner and outer y portions, I3 and I4, said edges are bound by means of suitable non-elastic tape strips I9. In order that the access opening at the free edges of the inner and outer sleeve portions I3 and I4 shall not gap, the said free edges may be arranged somewhat diagonally of the length of the sleeve, as indicated in Figure 4. Such an arrangement tends to prevent gapping, inasmuch as the said free edges are then caused to assume` the curved shape around the arm of the wearer.

The described construction is easy and inexpensive to make and it has the desirable effect of providing ventilation for the garment at the sleeves and of providing an arrangement for absorbing and retainingr under arm perspiration. Also the construction shown in Figures 1 to 3, inclusive, is somewhat advantageous in that the open mesh over arm portion 9 is normally somewhat softer to the touch than the closer mesh material of the under arm portions. Since the over arm portion 9 rests directly on the wearers arms the added softness obtained by the lightness and openness of the fabric is an added advantage.

Various changes in the described construction may be made without departing from the spirit of the invention, the scope of which should be determined by reference to the following claims, the

I claim:

1. A shirt sleeve having a portion formed of a length of fabric folded upon itself so as to describe, when distended, a spiral of approximately one and one-half turns, thereby forming a portion of single ply thickness and another portion of two ply thickness, the plies constituting said portion of two ply thickness being united along their edges forming the ends of said sleeve porltion so as to permanently maintain said plies in mutual overlapping relation, the longitudinally extending edges being free and unsecured with respect to the associated overlapped portion thereof whereby an opening is provided from the exterior of said sleeve to the interior thereof between said overlapped portions.

2. A shirt sleeve having a portion formed of a -length of fabric folded upon itself so as to describe, when distended, a spiral of approximately one and one-half turns, thereby forming a portion of single ply thickness and another portion of two ply thickness, the plies constituting said portion of two ply thickness being united along the edges of said sleeve portion so as to permanently maintain said plies in mutual overlapping relation, one of the edges of said length of fabric, which extends between the ends of said sleeve -portion being free of attachment to the other ply of material so as to afford an access opening to the space between said plies.

3. A shirt sleeve having a portion formed of a length of fabric folded upon itself so as to describe, when distended, a spiral of approximately one and one-half turns, thereby forming a portion of single ply thickness and another portion of two ply thickness, the plies constitutingsaid portion of two ply thickness being united along the edges of said sleeve portion so as to permanently maintain said plies in mutual overlapping relation, one of the edges of said length of fabric, which extends between the ends of said sleeve portion, being free of attachment to the other ply of material so as to afford an access opening to the space between said plies, the said free edge having an elastic means normally tending to resist stretching of said edge and thereby serving to prevent gapping of said access opening adjacent said free edge.

4. A shirt comprising a body portion having sleeve openings, and sleeves, said sleeves each comprising a tubular cloth member secured at one edge to the edges of the sleeve opening associated therewith, said tubular cloth member having two plies of cloth at its underside adjacent the portion thereof underlying the armpit region' of the wearer, and said tubular member having a longitudinally extending opening constituting a communication from the interior of said tubular member to the space between said two plies of cloth and another longitudinally extending opening constituting a communication from the space between said two plies of cloth and the exterior of said tubular member, said openings being located on opposite sides of the two ply portion.

5. The construction defined in claim 4, further characterized in that the tubular cloth member has a single ply section at the top part thereof which is composed of material of greater porosity than that of the underarm portion.

ARTHUR R. KNEIBLER. 

